Celestina of Aethelnia

Queen Celestina (b.196-d.302) of Aethelnia, Princess of Piolsa, Princess of Winsom, Princess of Killwilly, Duchess of Aethenrey, Duchess Carmarthen, By the Grace of Cruis, was a princess of the Piolsan royal house of Mendurosa, who married King William XVI of Aethelnia(b.199-d.270).

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Celestina was the fourth child of King Steniro V of Piolsa and his wife, Queen Bernadeta. She was part of both the House of Mendurosa, the royal family of Piolsa, and the House of Condriato, which ruled Alvaronia before its reincorporation into a united Piolsa. Her two older brothers, Ebantro and Lario, both died before their father, leaving Celestina's older sister, Meria, to take the throne. After Meria's death, the throne fell to their nephew, Dazelio, who remains King of Piolsa today.

Celestina grew up in the royal palace of Rezimano. King Steniro, described as "caring, but also stern and unapproachable", was frequently busy or away, and was therefore somewhat distant from his children. Celestina's mother, Queen Bernadeta, became estranged from Steniro in 201 AP after allegedly having an affair, and only saw Celestina occasionally. Instead, Celestina spent most of her childhood in the care of Princess Clareta, the King's widowed sister-in-law.

As with most Lendosan royals of her generation, Celestina was educated by a private tutor. She was particularly interested in languages, becoming fluent in several and continuing to study them for some time after her formal education ended. Along with her siblings, she also studied the sciences extensively, which was unusual for Piolsan royalty at the time — this was primarily as a result of King Steniro's belief that studying science and mathematics instilled self-discipline.

Celestina's father-in-law King William XV of Athelnia died in year 238. His son ascended the throne as William XVI and Celestine became queen of Aethelnia. During her husband's reign, she saw Aethelnia in it's isolationist era, the civil war resulting in the Pharos Aroz military junta in 299-301, and the rise of modern
Aethelnia >301 at the end of her life. Her husband died in 270 from a fall of his horse, and she was a widow (queen dowager) for 32 years.

When Celestina married William XVI, a royal standard needed to be designed for her. The Aethelnian heraldry artists were surprised to find that's something Lendosa does differently. There are no coats
of arms in Lendosa.

A solution was found. The royal house of Mendurosa uses one of the diamonds on the Piolsa flag as it's symbol,
with a pointy crown above it. Since there is no Lendosan tradition of coats of arms. The heraldry artists came up with a royal standard, which quartered the royal arms with 2 diamonds: Since Celestina originated from 2 royal
houses they used a double diamond quartered with the greater arms of Aethelnia, and charged with the Queen's crown.

Queen dowager Celestina was rarely seen after 282, which caused a lot of speculation about her allegedly deteriorating health. Queen dowager Celestina of Aethelnia is probably the first royal on Vexillium to have benefited from euthanasia. She died peacefully in her sleep in November 302. She was entombed next to her husband in the royal crypt at Caernarfonne Castle.